Guardians of the Balance
by SpecMode
Summary: A most unlikely band of heroes and antiheroes, brought together by forces unknown, must preserve the delicate Balance between Light and Dark, or face the certain destruction of the Universe. Work halted 14Mar06.
1. Prologue

Guardians of the Balance:_ Prologue_

The concept of a universal balance is nothing particularly new. Indeed, many of the philosophies humankind holds to this day were formed on the basis of two (or three, or more) cosmic forces that are perfectly balanced, holding each other in check, locked in a never-ending struggle for domination. In particular, it is the foundation for the classic battle between the forces alternately called "Good and Evil" or "Light and Dark."

There is one version of this belief, embodied in an ancient story passed from generation to generation, down a bloodline that, over the ages, has produced many famous (and infamous) historical figures, including warlocks, kings, sorcerers, and scholars. Many of those who have heard this version of the story have said that those who tell it proclaim that it is not merely an old myth, however fanciful parts of it might seem.

According to this legend, when the universe was brought into being untold ages ago, two distinct, powerful entities were created with it. The original creator of the story, his or her name lost over the centuries, called these "Light" and "Dark", representative of their preferred forms; Light took the form of vast galaxies, clouds of brightly burning stars; Dark existed as the seemingly endless void, the darkness that comprised the bulk of the Universe. As natural opposites, the Light and Dark were, from the beginning, constantly engaged in struggle. The Dark, preferring the blackness of empty space, focused all its efforts on extinguishing all light in the Universe. The Light retaliated simply by creating an ever-growing number of stars, forming spectacular constellations and spirals, ever-changing patterns shining through the darkness. The two forces, Light and Dark, were equals, neither able to overwhelm the other.

As time passed, the Universe matured. Planets formed from clouds of interstellar dust, and eventually, over millions of years, habitable ecosystems developed. Here and there, pockets of sentient life developed, evolving, creating their own societies, blissfully unaware of the cosmic battle being waged all around them.

However, the two forces eventually took notice of _them_, and began utilizing them as merely another set of tools in their inventory. The Dark, in particular, enjoyed creating havoc by empowering beings and setting them loose to demolish all in their path. The Light, to counter this, raised up great champions, powerful and noble, to stop those who would cause needless destruction. In this way, for many centuries, the two powers contended with each other through their chosen avatars. Through their actions, many legends were written, passed down. However, one stands out among them.

A powerful sorcerer sought the reasons for the endless conflicts among his fellow kind, and in his search stumbled upon an ancient artifact upon which was written an unfamiliar language. He spent months searching through the world's libraries and archives for any clue as to the origin of the strange dialect, but found none. Just as he was about to give up, however, he received a strange vision in his sleep. When he awoke, he could remember what he had seen in his dream as clearly as if it were inscribed on his mind, and he immediately wrote it down on a parchment. When he had returned to his home, he compared the artifact to what he had wrote down...and found that it was indeed the language he had been unable to translate.

The origin of the artifact, to this day, remains unknown. The text written upon it told a story the sorcerer believed to be the answer to his life's question: the story of the Balance. Before his death, he passed the story on to his son, with the instructions to pass the story on to his own children, and to have them pass it on to their own children, so that it would never be forgotten. The sorcerer's son, realizing the story's importance, dedicated himself to the Light, vowing to defend the Universe against the forces of the Dark, who craved its destruction. He gathered a small group of his most trusted companions, and together they became the first Guardians of the Balance, a line destined to combat the powers of the Dark, to maintain the Balance against those who would try to destroy it.

This volume chronicles the adventures of a most unlikely group of saviours, beings chosen from many walks of life to become the Universe's champions against the forces of the Dark, who would destroy it: the Guardians of the Balance.

----

_Author's Notes: Hmm...always wondered how long it was going to take for me to get this story started. Well, here goes nothing, I suppose. It remains to be seen how many different worlds, characters, and storylines I'll be able to keep in the air all at once; I guess I'll just have to find out by writing them. My basic outline, as it stands right now, features characters and/or settings from no less than eight different series, books, and movies. I intend to include more by the time this whole thing is over...assuming it ever IS. Projects like this tend to develop a mind of their own sometimes, so it might be a bit difficult to predict where it might be heading at times, even to their own authors. Well, enough mindless banter...I've got a chapter to write!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or locations featured in this story, unless explicitly specified in the applicable chapter(s). With those exceptions, all characters and locations belong to their original creators, copyright whenever. This is most definitely a non-profit fanfiction work. Thanks for reading!_

_Addendum: Visit the official Guardians of the Balance website (linked to from my profile page) for background info, extras, and insight into the creation of this series! _


	2. Chapter 1: A Mazoku in Paradise

Segment I: "Light"

Chapter 1: _A Mazoku in Paradise_

_It wasn't immediately obvious where or even _when_ the trouble started. The change was subtle, the effect small at first...but even small ruptures in the fabric of reality can have widespread, disastrous side effects, if left unattended. Space-time doesn't adjust too well to being mucked around with in disruptive fashions, after all...a simple timeslide, for instance, if placed where it isn't supposed to, is capable of causing the destruction of an entire star cluster—not to mention the being who created it (along with, likely, their entire planet). Reality does tend to find ways of 'getting even', so to speak, sooner or later; usually, sooner._

_This time, however, something was very different. This disruption wasn't the typical, localized sort; those were relatively easy to repair, and rarely had unforeseen, catastrophic consequences...those that didn't result in nasty paradoxes, that is. No, this one kept growing, consuming everything around it, becoming exponentially larger by the minute, inexplicably immune to the natural forces that acted to constrain it. Before long, it began affecting not only space, but time itself; the effect began to spread throughout the temporal plane, existing in the past, present, and future simultaneously._

_Somewhere, on some metaphysically distant plane of reality, Someone took notice. After all, reality distortions, if allowed to continue for long enough, eventually start affecting _other_ planes of existence, causing a chain reaction effect that could theoretically obliterate all of creation. Naturally, this would be something that the Powers That Be would try to prevent, being the creators of everything. As had been done many times in the past, They set in motion a chain of events that would restore the Universe to rights..._

_...but Another, Who had been waiting for such an opportunity for uncounted millenia, was preparing to strike a blow to one of the foundations of reality itself, a blow that would turn the tide of the endless battle in Its favor at last..._

----

"Well..._that_ certainly was rude."

One moment, Xelloss had been in the midst of a friendly chat with his mistress, Beastmaster Zelas-Metallum, in her haven on Wolf Pack Island; the next, he found himself not only outside, but also falling from several thousand feet in the air. Being a fairly powerful Mazoku, he often travelled by air, so to speak, so that in itself didn't bother him. He took a few seconds to ponder how he had been forceably transported out of his mistress' lair without warning, a highly improbable occurance; Xelloss _was_, after all, the priest of one of the (formerly) five Mazoku lords created by Lord Ruby-Eye, making him effectively the third most powerful of his kind in existence. Any being powerful (and stealthy) enough to elude Xelloss' highly-tuned senses would likely have to be nearly as powerful as Xelloss himself, possibly more so.

The self-styled trickster priest ruminated for a few moments longer before something at the back of his mind finally grabbed his attention: he was still falling. _Ah, yes... Now would be a good time to fix _that, he thought, as he tapped his considerable power, willing himself to slow to a hover in midair-- to slow—

To do absolutely nothing, as he continued to plunge at terminal velocity towards the ground below. Perplexed but still not particularly worried, he decided to take a bit of a shortcut, using his power to phase his physical form into the Astral Plane to-- phasing—

Once again the attempt failed, and Xelloss continued to fall, the ground below becoming clearer through the obscuring cloud layer.

"Oh, my. This is _not_ good," he remarked to himself as he frowned. He felt for his personal link to Zelas-Metallum, his creator and the source of his Mazoku power...and found it missing entirely. He was completely powerless, and apparently about to wind up a Xelloss-shaped hole in the ground, a rather embarassing end to the being who had been single-handedly responsible for the destruction of thousands of Dragons during the War of the Monsters' Fall one thousand years ago, and countless beings since. "Lord Beastmaster is probably going to be angry, I suppose..."

With the ground approaching fast, Xelloss tried every method he could think of to prevent an almost certainly painful death, with no apparent success. Now that he was below the cloud layer, he could make out the details of the scenery around him: a beautiful landscape, with vast fields of green grass, forests, and majestic mountain ranges just visible at the edge of the horizon...but what really caught his gaze were the mountains floating in mid-air, underlaid with crystalline formations that sparkled brightly in the sunlight, and similar outcroppings of similar-looking crystals on the ground below.

Not that he would have much time to admire the view. With only seconds before impact, Xelloss stayed true to form and smiled, albeit a bit ruefully, as he gazed upwards, and waited for the end. _I suppose something like this was bound to happen eventually..._

A deafeningly loud screech from behind startled the Mazoku, who instinctively twisted in the air to face the origin of the noise...and ended up slamming head-on, literally, into the back of a very large blue-skinned creature who had dived through the air behind him, and was now pulling up to glide parallel to the ground, which was perhaps only a few dozen feet below. Prying himself into an upright position, Xelloss slowly shook off the effects of the impact, and looked down to get a better glimpse at his savior. It should be noted here that in his thousands of years of existence, Xelloss had seen quite a few strange creatures in his travels. Many were distant relatives of the Dragon race, typically with only rudimentary intelligence (but enough to avoid the trickster priest like the plague, and for good reason); others were simple beasts, or experiments in chimera and golem creation gone horribly wrong. He could not recall, however, ever before seeing a gigantic, winged, flying _fish_.

However, as very few of the past several minutes' worth of occurances fit the definition of 'ordinary', he took that particular detail in stride, deciding instead to be thankful for the creature's timely appearance. Now that the threat of his imminent demise had been at least temporarily averted, he opted to take in the sights of the world around him. He paid particular attention to the floating mountains, wondering just what kind of force held them aloft. _Magic of a sort_, he supposed as he gazed at one of the nearest peaks. _Likely powerful magic, at that...which would probably describe my 'companion' as well. Those flimsy wings could not possibly—_

He was cut off mid-thought by what he saw next: a pair of massive crystalline towers, just becoming visible over the horizon, stretching what had to be hundreds of feet into the air and glinting with reflected sunlight. Judging by the fish's course, Xelloss surmised that the towers seemed to be their destination. His sharp vision, even without his Mazoku powers to enhance it, was enough to spot a relatively large opening in the leftmost of the towers, even from their extreme distance. As the pair closed in, Xelloss noted that the towers were joined near the base as well as by what looked to be a small walkway nearly two-thirds of the way up, and that the surrounding area contained an abundance of the small clusters of crystal he had seen earlier. Soon, he could just make out a tiny figure within the tower's opening, as if waiting for their arrival. _Almost as if it knew we were coming..._ Xelloss had a bit of an uneasy feeling, which he immediately quashed. _Best to play this one by ear_, he decided. _Get information first, find out where you are, and _then_ use any means possible to get back before Lord Beastmaster decides to start hunting me down. That is, if she hasn't started already..._

The flying fish began to slow, angling upward towards the opening in the left tower, as Xelloss had predicted. Moments later, they were inside, the fish hovering just above the crystalline surface. Further inside, Xelloss got a closer look at the figure he had seen from a distance: a short, probably male humanoid, wearing ornamented white robes and holding a staff nearly twice his height in his left hand. _A sorcerer, perhaps?_ Xelloss wondered. _Perhaps he is controlling our rather large friend here, which just might explain its timely rescue..._ Not one to be particularly impolite, he carefully slid down the side of the flying fish, landing nimbly on his feet, and bowed respectfully towards the robed figure. "My sincerest thanks, kind sir, for your assistance."

The figure returned the gesture, then seemed to appraise Xelloss for a moment. "You are quite welcome, my friend. I must apologize, however; I had no warning that there would be a visitor to this world, and so there was little time to prepare. I am Master Mage Clef, and this," he gestured towards the flying fish, "...is Fyula, a spirit-creature and friend." Clef lifted his staff into the air; a jewel embedded into the ornately-carved figure at its head began to glow. "_Creature Recall!_" he incanted; instantly, the fish's body began to warp, then began to disappear into the shining jewel. A few seconds later, the spirit-creature had vanished, and the jewel returned to its normal gleaming sea-blue.

_Intriguing,_ Xelloss mused. _Magic _does_ exist here, just as I suspected. _He gazed at the Master Mage, taking in his expression, his body language. _He doesn't seem to be particularly suspicious...to him, I must seem like a perfectly normal human._ The thought caused the Mazoku to inwardly scowl, though his facial expression didn't change. _I suppose it's for the best. Guess I had better introduce myself, before he _does _start to suspect something._ "I am Xelloss, a travelling priest." Which was technically correct, but as usual, he left the most important details out. "I must say I was quite surprised to find myself here. May I trouble you, Master Mage, to ask exactly where 'here' is?"

Clef nodded in assent. "No trouble at all. This," he swept his arm about to indicate the view outside, "is the world of Cephiro...and this is my home, Cephiro Castle."

----

Xelloss followed the diminutive Master Mage as he took his 'guest' on a tour of the castle and told him of the notable events in the world's recent history, before showing him to one of the castle's comfortable-looking guest rooms.

"You are more than welcome to stay, while we work to find a way for you to return to your own world." Clef paused, turning to leave. "I apologize for seeming to be in a hurry; I wish to begin research as soon as possible. I shall be in my study for a time, but should you require anything, you need only ask."

Xelloss gave a small, polite bow. "I humbly thank you for your hospitality, Master Mage. If I can be of any assistance in your research, simply ask, and I shall help out in any way possible."

Clef nodded. "Perhaps later, once you have had an opportunity to rest for awhile. The mind functions best when well-rested." With that, he carefully closed the door and departed.

Alone once again, Xelloss took stock of his surroundings. The guest room was well-furnished, with a very comfortable-looking bed, a nightstand with a rather large mirror, and a connected washroom. Like the rest of the castle, the floor, walls, and ceiling were made of the same durable, semi-translucent crystal; clear enough for sunlight to stream through, but not enough to actually see anything on the other side. A soft glow from a tiny sphere of light near the ceiling lit the entire room. _All in all, it should do nicely should I be stuck here for a while._ Though he knew it would probably be futile, he tried once again to draw on his Mazoku power, searching for the telltale presence of his mistress. _Still nothing. Well, you can't fault me for trying, _he thought. Then, another idea struck him. _Why not try something else? It's probably a long shot, but..._

While Xelloss relied primarily on his link to Lord Beastmaster, which was normally far more than enough to deal with his foes, he did possess an above-average (for a Mazoku) aptitude for magic, which he had learned over thousands of years but normally had very little use for, except for the occasional bit of deception. _Well, if there ever was a time when I needed it..._ He decided to start with something simple, a spell easy enough for even a novice to use:

"_Lighting!_"

Nothing happened. Slightly disheartened, Xelloss had about decided to give up at that point, but something in his mind nagged at him to give it one more try, as if saying, _This is about the only trick you have left, you'd better put a bit more effort into it!_ Focusing his will, exercising significantly more control than he had in quite a while, he tried once more.

"_Lighting!_"

To his mild surprise, a tiny point of light appeared in the air in front of him, pulsating weakly for a few seconds before vanishing. _Well...! It would seem that I'm not _quite _as helpless as I thought..._ At about that point, he began to feel something very unfamiliar to a Mazoku: fatigue. _Hmm...I suppose this is what a human would feel like at the end of a long, rough day._ He looked at the bed, which was starting to become strangely attracting...

----

_Author's Notes: Egads...I think this could have been done much better, but I had to come up with _something_. I had hoped to come up with something longer than this, but I suppose I can compensate for the shortness of this chapter in those yet to come._

_Fair warning: Chapter 2 will resemble this one about as much as an apple resembles an aircraft carrier. To answer your questions ahead of time, no, I didn't post it in the wrong story. Yes, both chapters will be part of the same storyline. Eventually. Just bear with me, and we'll all see how this one ends up._

_As per routine, comments and constructive criticism are strongly encouraged. Lemme know what you think!_

_Addendum: Visit the official Guardians of the Balance website (linked from my profile page) for background info, extras, and insight into the creation of this series!_


	3. Chapter 2: Routine Assignment

Chapter 2: _Routine Assignment_

"Very well, Commander Wallace. I'll take the initial report in my ready room. Commander Williams, you have the bridge."

"Aye, sir."

As he stood and turned to leave, relinquishing the center chair to his XO, Captain Nathan Townsend glanced about the bridge one last time to ensure all was well, before briskly making his way to his ready room.

The automatic door slid open to admit him, the characteristic _swish_ the only sound to be heard on the bridge besides the usual ambient sounds of a starship underway. As it closed behind him, the captain stretched, his muscles protesting slightly from nearly two hours of disuse as he had monitored the approach towards and initial analysis of the Federation's latest find. His command, the newly-commissioned ship of the line USS _Prometheus_, had been tapped by the higher-ups at Starfleet to conduct a scientific investigation into the formation of what appeared to be a stable subspace wormhole only two light-years beyond the edge of the Sol system. The discovery had piqued the interest of the Federation's scientists, who were eager to study the conditions under which such anomalies were formed; to them, a specimen in such an early stage of development could prove to be an invaluable goldmine of research data.

He sat at the ready room desk, bringing up the raw, unprocessed data on his PADD as he settled down with a steaming cup of his favorite jasmine tea, which he sipped as he reviewed the information. _Estimated date of formation, approximately three days ago_, he noted. _The first time the Federation has been able to observe the formation of a natural wormhole, and we get a front-seat view._ He noted key characteristics as he continued to scan through; _30.2 meters in diameter, with no detectable expansion or contraction; low-level radiation emissions from the wormhole itself, barely at our sensors' minimum threshold above background, just enough to be detectable; nothing particularly notable about the local area, aside from the fact that _something_ just punched a big hole in it..._

A muted tone from the desk caught his attention. _"Bridge to Captain Townsend,"_ the deep, clear voice of his second-in-command sounded clearly from the desk's built-in communicator.

"Go ahead, Commander," the captain replied.

"Sir, we have detected a minor surge in emission levels accompanied by a one-point-three meter increase in the wormhole's diameter over the past twenty seconds."

Townsend glanced back at the PADD for confirmation; the elevated readings were automatically highlighted as the data updated itself from the ship's sensor data in realtime. "I've got the numbers in here. Stay alert, and keep me informed."

"Aye, sir."

Townsend watched the numbers fluctuate slightly for about a minute before they began to stabilize. _This could be interesting,_ the captain thought to himself. _An active wormhole, with Earth only a couple light-years away...Starfleet Command is going to be a bit twitchy with this one, no doubt._

----

"_Captain's Log, supplemental. The USS Los Alamos has just arrived to assist in research efforts, with additional sensors and specialists from Starfleet's scientific division. The wormhole itself has exhibited few signs of instability over the past three days, with occasional, very brief periods of growth of up to two meters in diameter per occurrence. Data received from probes launched into the anomaly have not provided a significant amount of useful information, but we are continuing to conduct a detailed analysis of all data collected in the hope that we can find out how these things are formed."_

Tapping the screen to end the log entry, the captain allowed himself a slight yawn as he prepared to turn in for the 'night'. The CO of the research vessel _Los Alamos_, one Commander Gregory Young, had contacted him nearly twenty minutes prior, appraising Townsend of his ship's mission-specific capabilities and with assurances that his ship and crew were at the captain's disposal.

He stood and stretched, and made his way across the ready room to his cabin. The door opened to admit him, and he stepped inside, intending to get a decent night's rest to prepare for another full day of analysis and data review. He had gotten no further than halfway across the cabin before a warning tone from the overhead communicator cut him short. _"Yellow Alert! Captain Townsend to the bridge!"_

The captain was there in under ten seconds. "Report!"

"Emission levels from the wormhole have surged by a factor of twenty within the last twenty seconds," Commander Williams informed him as he stood to relinquish the command chair. "The diameter of the hole hasn't yet followed suit, though it is possible that there may simply be a delay time involved. We are currently at a safe distance for a proportional size increase, though it is remotely possible that the wormhole could expand to a size sufficient to engulf us."

"Understood," Townsend responded as he settled back into his chair. _So much for that nap,_ he mused inwardly. "Have we received any advisories from the _Los Alamos_?"

Lieutenant Commander Gregory Wallace, the _Prometheus'_ Science Officer, responded in the negative. "Nothing yet, sir."

The captain gazed at the viewscreen, the wormhole visible as a circular, swirling luminescence hanging in the blackness of space several dozen kilometers in front of the ship. "Any signs of expansion?"

"Not at present, Captain," Wallace again responded. "Emissions have increased by another ten percent in the past minute; however, the diameter of the anomaly has remained steady at four-seven-point-two meters."

"Very well," the captain replied. "Keep a close eye on those readings, Mr. Wallace...I don't intend to be caught by surprise if that thing decides to open wide on us."

"Aye, Captain." Wallace continued to watch his console intently, ignoring the viewscreen entirely. Townsend had a substantial amount of faith in his SO's ability to perform in tense situations; the two had served together twice in the past, and during both tours Townsend had been quite impressed with Wallace's aptitude in the scientific field – impressed enough that when he was assigned to command _Prometheus_, Captain Townsend had specifically requested for the then-Lieutenant Wallace to fill the position of ship's Science Officer, a spot usually reserved for much more senior officers. Within a year of assuming his duties, Wallace had garnered quite a bit of respect among the ship's command staff, and had been granted a spot promotion to his present rank.

"Sir, sensors have detected a very slight enlargement in the wormhole's diameter of approximately zero-point-three , zero-point-seven–"He paused for a moment, giving the sensor data a second to update instead of rattling off a constant stream of numbers. "Captain, the wormhole's diameter is increasing at a rate of approximately one-point-one meters per second and accelerating. I recommend moving the ship to a safe dist–"

On the viewscreen, the wormhole visibly swelled, rapidly expanding from a small fraction of the screen's width to nearly a third within the space of a few seconds. Captain Townsend wasted no time in issuing orders.

"Red alert! All back, one-half impulse! Full power to forward shields; all hands standby for shock!"

The wormhole's circular opening filled nearly three-quarters of the viewscreen now, and was showing no signs of slowing its explosive growth; if anything, it seemed to be expanding even more rapidly by the second. Wallace continued to monitor the sensor readings even as he braced for shock against his console. "Sir, the wormhole's diameter is now seven hundred thirty-five meters in diameter and expanding at a rate of approximately five-point-five kilometers per minute and still accelerating!"

"Bring us about! Standby for Warp One on my mark!" Captain Townsend gripped the arms of his chair as the _Prometheus_ began to turn, preparing to make a run for it before his ship was swallowed whole by the anomaly. _Come on, _turn, _damn you!_

"_Los Alamos_ has gone to warp, Captain! Wormhole diameter is six-point-zero-two kilometers...one-zero-point-two-thr–"

With a muted roar, the outer edge of the wormhole's periphery overtook the _Prometheus_, rocking the starship violently and sending several of the bridge crew sprawling. The viewscreen went blank, and the bridge's red lights began to flicker as the powerful emissions from the wormhole caused fluctuations in the ship's energy systems. Showers of sparks from failed power conduits rained from overhead as the violent shuddering continued. Townsend somehow managed to remain in his chair as his ship was plunged into utter chaos.

"Full power to shields!" he ordered. "Tomas, coordinate with Wallace and plot us a course out of here, full impulse!"

"Aye, sir!" Ensign Christopher Tomas acknowledged the order from the helm, a fraction of a second faster than Wallace. "Commander, just give me a hole to aim for and I'll fly her through!"

Wallace failed to respond, as he was concentrating all of his attention on the sensor readouts in front of him. The ship continued to quake violently around them, but someone had ramped up the inertial dampers to try and reduce the effect. Nearly a minute passed before Wallace finally looked up from his console. "Helm, set new course, two-one-five, mark one-nine!"

"Two-one-five mark one-nine, aye!" Tomas deftly input the course into the helm, and engaged the impulse engines. The hum of the impulse engines mixed with the constant rumbling and creaking of the battered starship as it began to move once again. "Impulse engines answering ahead full as ordered, Captain!"

"Very well, Ensign Tomas. Distance to exit point, Commander Wallace?"

"It's difficult to tell with the sensor interference, Captain, but I'd estimate approximately two-point-three million kilometers, plus or minus a few hundred thousand." He glared at the console, unable to coax a better estimate out of it. "Approximately thirty seconds to exit point, assuming that the sensors are in fact working correctly."

"Thirty seconds...very well, Commander. Helm, maintain course and speed."

"Aye, sir."

The _Prometheus_ pushed onward, sliding through the chaotic spatial distortions at her maximum safe sub-light speed, her crew enduring the bumpy ride as they closed in on what was hopefully the way out. And, almost exactly thirty seconds later, the ship emerged from the anomaly into the emptiness of space, stars once again visible as the viewscreen once again blinked back to life. Captain Townsend let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "All stop. Damage report?"

"Minor casualties throughout the ship, sir," Commander Williams reported. "Mostly bumps and bruises from the initial shock; Engineering is reporting moderate instabilities from the port-ventral and both starboard nacelles; Commander Heisenberg is recommending that we do not engage the warp drive until he can complete at least a Level Two diagnostic."

"Very well, Commander. In the meantime, let's get our bearings back. Commander Wallace, what is the status of the wormhole?"

Wallace, staring at his console, did not respond for a few seconds. The captain was about to prompt him again when he looked up.

"It's gone, sir. The opening appears to have collapsed moments after our exit. Detectable emission levels in the area are approximately normal background, nothing more."

Townsend let out a heavy sigh. This was not welcome news. "Computer, stand down from Red Alert. Commander, can you determine our current location?"

The SO let out a frustrated sigh of his own. "The computer's working on it, Captain, but something seems to be wrong here. I'm trying to compare what we can see out there with our stellar charts, and...well, nothing matches, so far as I can tell. One thing's for sure..." He paused for a moment. "...we're _definitely_ not in Sol anymore. Or, in all likelihood, anywhere within a thousand light-years of it; I can't find Earth on short-range _or_ long-range sensors."

_Great_, the captain thought. _Stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no clue where we are and, possibly, without warp drive. Just _great. "Any communications from the _Los Alamos_?"

"No, sir; in addition, they're not answering our hails. Matter of fact, _nobody_ is; it's as if the entire subspace network is down."

"Or maybe we're out of range, somehow...have you detected anything else in the area?"

Wallace tapped a few commands into the console. "Computer's still working on it, sir...well, well."

Captain Townsend cocked an eyebrow at the remark. "What did you find?"

"Something very interesting, Captain. There's a Class G2 star at approximately twenty-nine billion kilometers from our current position at bearing one-zero-five mark seven, not much different from Sol...but that's not all. There's also an M-class planet at bearing one-three-nine mark three, distance twenty-point-two-three billion kilometers. Initial scan indicates that the planet may be inhabited, but it is difficult to tell at the moment; something still seems to be interfering with the sensor readings."

"Keep trying, Commander. In the meantime, given the absence of our previous research subject, we're going to have to alter our mission somewhat. Our first priority, obviously, is to find out where we are. I'm going to assume, based on available astrometrics data and Mr. Wallace's expertise, that we are no longer in Federation space, and given the uncertain nature of wormholes, possibly no longer in the Alpha Quadrant itself. In addition, we shall continue efforts to re-establish contact with the Federation using any means possible.

"Our second priority is to continue the ship's mission; this will involve searching for clues that might give the Federation insight into the formation of the wormhole. Unfortunately, that might be a bit difficult to accomplish due to its unexpected disappearance. However, we will continue to thoroughly analyze the data we have already collected in hope of turning up something useful.

"Lastly, but most certainly not least, is to carry out one of Starfleet's oldest and most enduring principles: 'To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations..."

He turned to gaze at each of the bridge crew, to emphasize his point, before finishing the quote.

"To boldly go where no one has gone before."

At that, he turned to face the viewscreen, gazing at the starfield in front of him. "Lay in a course for the planet, Mr. Tomas, full impulse."

A moment passed. "Course laid in, sir."

With a renewed sense of purpose, Captain Townsend symbolically pointed at the screen and issued the now-famous command:

"Engage."

----

_Author's notes: Aiee...I thought this would never be finished. Well, I'm hoping that this goes over well with y'all; I've never tried my hand at anything Trek-based before, so I hope I've done a reasonably good job. Yeah, I used a lot of technobabble, but hey, that's the nature of the series. For you die-hard Trekkies out there: yes, I know the _Prometheus_ is acting somewhat out-of-role as a research vessel, but sometimes you just have to use what you have readily available. Next up: something a little more down-to-Earth...literally. See you in New York!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, or the USS _Prometheus_. Pretty much everything else (specifically, the _Prometheus'_ officers and crew, and the USS _Los Alamos_) was my own creation, and as such is © 2004 me. Or something like that._

_Addendum: Visit the official Guardians of the Balance website (linked from my profile page) for background info, extras, and insight into the creation of this series!_


End file.
